Carbonite shares rise in first day of trading

The company's shares hit a high of $13.40 before settling down a bit. Carbonite earlier this week announced it had to reduce its opening range to $10 to $11 per share from an initial range of $15 to $17.

Shares of Carbonite, a company that provides online backup services, are up today in their first day of trading.

The company's shares, which started the day at $10, hit a high of $13.40 today before leveling off at their current $11.88 per share. Although Carbonite might be happy with its first day of trading, the company's initial offering was substantially lower than it had originally projected. Rather than the initial $15 to $17 a share offering price, Carbonite said earlier this week that it had to reduce its opening range to $10 to $11 per share.

Carbonite's decision might have something to do with the current state of Wall Street. Following news of the U.S. losing its AAA credit rating from the S&P last week, stocks plummeted on Monday. After winning back some of their losses on Tuesday, stocks were back down yesterday, prompting some to wonder if it was the wrong time and the wrong market for IPOs.

For his part, Carbonite co-founder and CEO David Friend said that the state of the market today isn't his biggest concern. And although things are trying on Wall Street, it didn't temper his desire to bring his company public.

"I'm not so concerned about the stock price today. I'm more concerned about what the stock price will be a year or two years from now," Friend said in a call with reporters today. "The publicity with going public is beneficial for us, but it also gives us a currency for strategic acquisitions."

Friend didn't say whether his company is planning any acquisitions in the near future.

Some online companies have fared quite well so far this year. LinkedIn offered its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in May, and watched them soar 109 percent in their first day of trading. Russian search engine Yandex followed that up by closing its first day of trading at $37.75 a share from its starting point of $25 per share.

Although Carbonite hasn't seen that kind of success today, Friend said that going public is "in the best long-term interests of the company, stockholders, and employees."

About the author

Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
See full bio